1991 British Eagle Pro-Carbon - restored 2/3/11

20 years ago, a mate of mine bought one of these, and it seemed so light, nimble and quick to accelerate that I kind of went off my steel framed Alpinestars of the time... :roll: :roll:

I knew I had to have one, and when this one came up on ebay recently, it was a foregone conclusion that I'd be drivingto pick it up after the auction :roll:

Allegedly a re-badged Alan frame (although the rear seat-stays seem more straight) this particular bike was around the £700 mark, new BITD and came equpped nicely head to toe in XT

So this is the state I rescued it in.......

So as you can see from the pics above, is was really mucky (actually like brown glue) which was a painstaking nightmare to remove, the headset was faded brown, and filled with grease like glue again.

Tyres were past their best, mismatched QR's, rusty bars, heavy old stem, faded ano seatpost (not pictured) but a little piece of magic, was the original saddle:



So the whole bike was stripped down to bare components, cleaned, and sme new additions added, such as: Stem, bars, levers, thumbies, tyres seatpost, skewers and saddle.....

And here's the finished article.......

If I'm completely critical, I'm not sure about the Dia-Compe levers, so might address that bu rubbing the clamps down and either polishing or repainting, but other wise I'm happy with the outcome...

Spec as follows:

Frame: British Eagle Alu/Carbon bonded (Alan?)

Fork: Straight blade Alu 1-1/8"

Headset: Tioga Alchemy 1-1/8"
Stem: Syncros Cattleprod 1-1/8"
Handlebar: Carbon unbranded
Grips: BBB
Barends: none

Brakes: Shimano M730 Cantis
Brake Pads: Shimano XT
Brake Cables: New ones.. lol
Cantilever cable hangers: Suntour Black front
Brake Levers: Dia-Compe SS5

Shifters: Shimano M732 XT thumbshifters
Front Derailleur: Shimano M735 XT
Rear Derailleur: Shimano M735 XT
Derailleur Cables: New ones.... lol
Cassette: Shimano SG
Chain: Shimano SG
Cranks: Shimano M730 XT 175mm
Crank Bolts: yep.
Chainrings: Shimano Biopace
Chainring bolts: Shimano
Bottom Bracket: Shimano sq taper
Pedals: none..

Hub Skewers: DDG ano blue
Rims: Rigida Rally
Hubs: Shimano M730 XT
Nipples: yep.
Spokes: Stainless
Tyres: Michelin Wildgripper NOS
Tubes: butyl muck

Saddle: Flite Ti
Seatpost: USE Alien Carbon
Seatpost Binder: Shimano XT

Weight: and see...

Awesome build, love the MS sticker on the stem.
Nice to see it saved, BE are one of those companies that I missed BITD ad associated them with their later BSO rubbish, so nice to see a couple of nice examples coming out to play!

a good day then steve ?

looks better in the bigger size i reckon

That's a very lovely bike Steve.

What size is it?

Those forks look sooooo nice.

mikee":pqhjlsc5 said:

a good day then steve ?

looks better in the bigger size i reckon

Click to expand...

Cheers Mike,

Funny thing is I prefer the look of the size of yours :roll: :roll: :? :?

Stick Legs":12s8by0e said:

Awesome build, love the MS sticker on the stem.
Nice to see it saved, BE are one of those companies that I missed BITD ad associated them with their later BSO rubbish, so nice to see a couple of nice examples coming out to play!

Click to expand...

Cheers Fella,

I was gonna remove the MS sticker, but I think actually for the moment it's a keeper...

This is the only British Eagle bike I've ever liked, and BITD it was astoundinbgly good vfm...

giant-one":12s8by0e said:

That's a very lovely bike Steve.

What size is it?

Those forks look sooooo nice.

Click to expand...

Thankyou sir, I'm actually very proud of it...

It's a 21" frame :shock: and it 6'2 I'm only just the right side of fitment, however 6'3 to 6'6" riders would be more suited IMO, with a longer seatpost

I love the forks too, and they look even better in the flesh.

.

Ooh, she's a darlin' and no mistake